HANLEY Castle High School has become the first school in the country to install a revolutionary new computer system which has previously only been used in industry.

The new Thin Client system does away with the need for a network of separate PCs. Instead, each user has a flat screen, keyboard and mouse linked to a powerful central server.

Every action taken at individual terminals has to go through the main server, giving teachers an unprecedented degree of control over its usage.

"As far as I know, it's a system no other school has got," said headmaster Alan Johnston.

"Up to a 1,000 people can have their bits and pieces of memory stored on the central server at once and the server stack is 6ft.

"If one of the servers goes down, another one takes its place, so it should be foolproof."

Mr Johnston said there were many advantages to this set-up.

"For a start, it's very, very quick, you get hardly any delay when loading," he explained. "Software can be loaded instantaneously on to every terminal and it's very easy to control its usage to prevent misuse of the Internet, hacking, unwanted software downloads and so on."

The system was installed by Indata, a small family-run high-technology firm based in Hanley Swan.

Directors Iain and Tessa Askew have two children at the school, Sally, aged 14, and Richard, 16.

"It's a great system and it should be relatively future-proof," said Mrs Askew. "Also, we're only a minute down the road if anything does go wrong."